WEST SALEM TOWNSHIP — A woman whose husband died after the two of them were struck by an out-of-control car that slid into their yard a year ago told the driver Monday she was forgiven.

“My heart can’t hold the negative feelings,” Margaret “Peg” Doughton said from the front of a packed courtroom during the sentencing hearing for the 51-year-old driver, Laurel L. Gardner, 471 Harris St., Sharon. Gardner pleaded guilty in June to homicide by vehicle, a felony, and careless driving.

Doughton and her husband Tom were doing yardwork last July 29, when Gardner drove past their home that morning on state Route 846 in West Salem Township. Gardner crossed the center line to pass the vehicle in front of her, swerved back into her lane when she saw oncoming traffic, and then lost control of her vehicle and drove into the Doughtons’ yard, hitting both of them.

Tom Doughton, 73, died later that day at St. Elizabeth Health Center, Youngstown. Margaret Doughton sustained several serious injuries. She’s undergone surgeries and among other things suffered damage to her feet, and also had to have metal plates inserted into her jaw. At one point during her recuperation her jaw was wired shut.

“Laurel I know you didn’t set out that morning to kill Tom and injure me,” Margaret Doughton said.

The pair were married 31 years at the time of the accident, and among the things Margaret Doughton regrets is that she couldn’t comfort her husband in his final moments. She was unconscious when they left the scene.

“I know life must go on,” Margaret Doughton said. “It could have all been avoided. For every bad choice there must be a consequence.”

Gardner acknowledged that pain Monday.

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t relive this accident myself,” Gardner said. “If I could take it back I would, but I can’t.”

Mercer Common Pleas Judge Robert G. Yeatts noted he received an “impressive” stack of letters on Gardner’s behalf. He also heard from two people who chose to deliver their remarks in person.

The Rev. Ronald Hartman, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, sought the judge’s compassion on Gardner’s behalf. “She is forgiven, but I’m not sure she will ever forgive herself.”

The defendant’s mother, Carol Folwell, described her daughter as a “caring, loving, kind person,” and as someone who “is always doing for others.” She asked the judge to spare her daughter, a mother of two adult children and grandmother of five, time in a jail cell.

“I don’t see that incarcerating her will solve any problems,” Folwell said, suggesting if Gardner could remain at home and at work, she could more quickly repay restitution – $13,292 to Margaret Doughton.

The judge, about to complete his seventh month on the bench, called this “the hardest sentence that I’ve had to consider.”

He told Gardner he believed her to be remorseful. But he also disagreed with some of the notions mentioned in letters of support for her – that it was an accident that could have happened to anybody, and that the incident had wiped out a lifetime of good.

“I agree there’s no winners here. There is no good sentence that’s going to make the Doughtons happy, that’s going to make your family happy,” Yeatts said. “We get rewarded for the good we do. We get punished for the bad we do.”

In the end, the judge said he went against his initial inclination – which was to send Gardner to state prison.

He ordered Gardner to serve a minimum of 3 months in Mercer County Jail, and a maximum of 2 years behind bars. She was ordered to pay restitution and also complete 500 hours of community service.